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@Luci Dawson wrote:Would be a bit concerned about those with holes in the lids...doesn't that provide a port of entry for nasties and an exit for odors? I'll be using the red Folgers container.

We have one of the stainless steel ones with the holes in the top and love it! We have no problems with odor or fruit flies. I can say it does keep the odors inside too! Sometimes I take the lid of and PEWWW! Time to dump the pail. All I'm saying is, it keeps the odors IN because of the filter that comes with it! It's also very easy on the eyes too. Most people think ours is a cookie jar

I tried doing compost last year in one of those plastic tumblers you can buy at your local gardening/home improvement centers. I didn't have much success as I am totally confused on what and how much of everything to put in. When you are talking about kitchen scraps, can you do fruit scraps as well as the veggie scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc.?

Since it got broke, this years model is pictured below, will be kept in the garage and serve to turn compost into worm castings

I have that same countertop crock.

I've been ready to add worm composting b/c with our family of 5 we have a small wheel barrel full of fruit & veggie scraps every month. How many lbs of worms do you have? Did you put your worms in every tray? I'm wanting to manufacture that stuff as fast as possible.

I've been ready to add worm composting b/c with our family of 5 we have a small wheel barrel full of fruit & veggie scraps every month. How many lbs of worms do you have? Did you put your worms in every tray? I'm wanting to manufacture that stuff as fast as possible.

Funny story on that actually...I ordered two pounds initially as that quantity was suggested to kick of Worm Town, getting it to a good start, but the company I ordered from double filled my order so I received 2-two pound boxes of the lil fellas.

Not certain if you've seen 4000 worms all together before, but its sort of freaky, in a "B" movie horror classic sort of way. I also don't recall, but seem to remember having read, fruit is fine, but vary their diet as too much fruit did something to their digestive system(?). Again, this is from memory and that's not a very relaible source anymore.

Like any topic you can imagine, there's several people who have shared their Worm Communities on Youtube and a ton of free information by searching "worm farming" or similiar on the Web. I started in the first tray as suggested and they move on their own as the food source is depleted, leaving worm pods (baby worms) behind.

Oh, and as for the extra worms I had received...lets just say my chickens didn't have a clue what to do, when that treat hit the ground

Hmmm...worms with upset tummies.....I don't think I want to know how you knew!

LittleGardener, I am scratching my head a bit over the question of managing my outside compost. Since I garden and compost at the restaurant, the volume of compost is too great to manually break it down into smaller pieces. The size of my garden, with this year's expansion plans, can happily use all the compost I can get. In the summer, the pile reduces in size fairly quickly, even though it still takes quite awhile to convert to useable compost. This winter, I am already full to the brim on both of my large composters. We have had very little rain or snow, so the pile isn't compacting at all.

I don't want to start throwing the scraps into the dumpster. Besides all the obvious reasons, the kitchen staff is nicely on board with composting. But if they get reminded how easy it is to throw everything in the trash without having to think about it, I am not at all sure that I would ever get them back.

Someone on this board has a very attractive compost container made out of metal fencing - does anyone here remember who and what thread so I can look it up?

@martha wrote: We have had very little rain or snow, so the pile isn't compacting at all. I don't want to start throwing the scraps into the dumpster. Besides all the obvious reasons, the kitchen staff is nicely on board with composting. But if they get reminded how easy it is to throw everything in the trash without having to think about it, I am not at all sure that I would ever get them back.

Someone on this board has a very attractive compost container made out of metal fencing - does anyone here remember who and what thread so I can look it up?

My new compost bin made of pallets uses Strong Ties for fasteners instead of L brackets. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, can be bought singly, and are generally cheaper than L brackets purchased at the box stores.

Camp and Tom, because it is at the restaurant, I have to be a little sensitive to appearances, although I am not as particular as perhaps should be. Camp, because it is at the restaurant, I have to be a little sensitive to appearances, although I am not as particular as perhaps should be.

Because it is at the restaurant, I have to be a little sensitive to appearances, although I am not as particular as perhaps should be.

there is a third small bin that is hiding behind the two visible bins. The round bin in back contains probably about 50% useable compost. The white showing through the vents are egg shells. The larger bin in the foreground shows scraps dumped yesterday.

The back bin was started in summer of 2010. I don't consider 1-2 years a bad turn-around time for taking huge hunks of food and dumping them into a bucket. And that bin did an amazing job of shrinking. But of course, last year we had all that snow, which both compacted the garbage, and I'm sure prevented some scraps from making it outside!

This view is shielded from the street quite nicely by the lilac bushes in the summer - you can see it if you know what to look for, but it doesn't jump out like a sore thumb. And from the front, the bins are in a slight depression at the back of the garden area, with tons of tomato plants in front that are so much more interesting to look at, that by the time anyone notices the compost bins, the are an editorial comment more than an eyesore. (I think!)

But I do have to figure out something to allow me to start another pile, at the same time as hopefully upgrading the view!

@Mamachibi wrote:True confession time. I don't have one. My kitchen is on the second floor and I built the compost pile directly under the kitchen window. I chop, chop, chop, open the window and dump.

That's sort of funny...the leaves this year were a bit overwhelming, so I let them fall until it seemed they were done, and prior to trying to conquer them (yeah, right).

Finally raking them from the front yard, and into a pile with the ones in the back, I put them into 90 gallon containers for pick-up. Well, I just have the containers and not the service, so next was to run them through the shredder and even now, they would still fill the better part of three huge containers. That is, if they weren't still piled on a tarp in my back yard from a month ago.

But looking at them out of my kitchen window, I was thinking....why couldn't I do the same with the rest of the compost through out the year, giving it a head start, speeding up the process of normal deterioration or for Vermicomposting? Might be time to start another thread soon.

Two Red Folger's coffee cans, here! Ours gets emptied about every other day, unlessI cook a very large meal, then it gets emptied the same day. Although since we're not home often, we don't really produce enough to feed the compost pile well enough.

Just a couple days ago DH built me a compost pile enclosure! No more wire mesh zip tied together! Now my boys (the two youngest) can get the rototiller there now and mix it up easier!